This invention relates to tumbling boards, and more particularly, to tumbling boards with spring assemblies and which are interconnected to provide a support surface for a tumbling mat or the like.
In the gymnastic sport of tumbling, athletes perform various maneuvers on mats or the like, many of which require the athlete to spring high into the air with the maneuver being performed in mid air. This, of course, amongst other things, requires that the athlete have considerable "spring" in his or her legs. Frequently, in practice sessions and competitive meets, the spring in the athlete's legs is artificially enhanced through the use of tumbling boards which support the mat on which the athlete is performing. In the usual case, the tumbling board is formed of one or more large sheets which are interconnected if more than one is used. A plurality of spring assemblies are secured to the underside of each such board and support the board in a slightly elevated fashion, frequently on the order of 2 inches, above the underlying floor or the like. Consequently, the athlete performing on such a tumbling board, while moving downwardly under the influence of gravity, upon impacting against the mats supported by the tumbling board, will cause compression of the springs. After initial compression of the springs due to the inertia of the athlete, the springs tend to elevate the tumbling board and move the athlete upwardly thereby providing the aforementioned artificial assist to the spring in the athlete's legs.
Heretofore, the tumbling boards and spring assemblies have typically been in the form of plywood sheets mounting helical springs of perhaps two inches in length and one inch in diameter. The springs are secured at designated locations to the underside of the tumbling boards by washers placed between adjacent convolutions of the springs near one end thereof with the washers then receiving a threaded fastener or the like which impales the tumbling board. Thus, the washers sandwich one end of the associated spring against the board and in turn are held in place by a fastener. The various boards are provided, at their peripheries, with interlocking devices whereby a series of boards may be interlocked together to provide a sufficiently large surface for a large gymnastic mat or the like. In some cases, hinges are employed with removable hinge pins or pintles being employed to interlock the hinge leaves which are placed on adjacent boards. Other types of movable interlocking devices have also been employed.
In any event, as pointed out in my previously identified copending application, this type of construction has provided some difficulty in that the spring assemblies frequently become inadvertantly disassociated from the board, and the spring assembly disclosed in my application overcomes this difficulty. Still another difficulty is present in the prior art method of securing the boards together as well as taking them apart after a meet or practice session or the like because each interlocking device must be manually manipulated to release one board from another and where large mats are used, it is extremely time consuming to disassemble all of the tumbling boards required to support such a mat.